This was an intriguing week, and one that produced some interesting results for the pound. But would they be results to celebrate or not?
An overview of the currency markets for September 28th – October 2nd 2015
As the week got underway the British pound stood at 1.5176 against the US dollar. We had an encouraging start as the pound rose to 1.5193 on Monday evening. However we then dropped back to 1.5158 the day after, so all was not as smooth-sailing as we would have liked. This up-and-down pattern continued throughout the remainder of the week as well. As such it meant the pound eventually finished on 1.5167 against the US dollar.
Over to the euro now, where the pound began trading on 1.3610 before slipping to 1.3601 on Monday night. Another bad day followed on Tuesday, taking the pound to 1.3529, but this turned out to be the lowest point of the week. After that we had three much better days, although the pound only reached 1.3590 by Friday evening. This meant we had lost ground over the few days as a whole.
Next up is the pound’s position against the Hong Kong dollar. We opened on 11.761 here but had a good day to begin with, rising to 11.774. However we then had an up-and-down pattern similar to the one we’d seen against the US dollar. This meant that by Friday evening the pound was stalled on 11.754, so it was a loss over the week as a whole.
Our fourth stop is of course with the New Zealand dollar. So far the pound didn’t have a good record against dollar currencies this week, so would the same be the case here as well? We opened on 2.3923 but fell back to 2.3918 by the day’s end. We didn’t see an up-and-down pattern here either. In fact we moved through four days’ worth of bad results that took us to 2.3526 by Thursday evening. We did pull a little back on Friday but it was not enough to regain the losses. We finished on 2.3659 instead.
Finally we have only the Australian dollar left to check out. Here the pound started the week on 2.1633 and went up to 2.1717 to start the week. Things went badly from there however for the next three days. This meant the pound was down to 2.1415 by Thursday. Fortunately it did improve to 2.1568, but this wasn’t enough to recoup all the losses the week had given us. The pound had lost too much by that point to recover it all in just one day.
Notable events in the world of currency
Another loss against the Canadian dollar
From a starting point of 2.0204, the pound slipped back to 2.0080 throughout the week.
A slight loss against the Swiss franc
This may have been another loss but at least it wasn’t a major one. The pound went from 1.4864 down to 1.4845 in total.
A bigger loss against the Icelandic krona
Perhaps we have saved the worst result for last. The pound dipped from 195.035 all the way down to 192.949 against the krona last week.
All in all this was not the best week we have ever seen – far from it in fact. The British pound had trouble against all manner of different currencies, and that doesn’t fill us with confidence for the week ahead.
Of course a lot can change in a relatively small period of time. Perhaps next week will be far better than we have seen this time around. Only time will tell what the answer is, and whether it will fall in favour of the British pound or not. Even where there was a mixed week with some ups and downs involved though, the pound didn’t really achieve anything of note. We can only hope we have better news to report on next week, and we will of course bring you the latest news when we have it.